Hon Chair, the DA supports this Vote but with serious reservations. We do not believe that the budget is properly aligned with the White Paper. We believe that seven years after the adoption of the White Paper, the focus of the department remains on warehousing rather than on rehabilitating offenders. But, chiefly, we remain concerned about the levels of corruption, maladministration and wasteful expenditure in the department.
In particular, we do not believe that a special remission is the way to deal with prison overcrowding. We will give the Minister the benefit of the doubt this year, but she will need to show much more determination to turn the department around if she wants our support next year. I so move.